Excise tax on sugary drinks to protect poor families from serious ailments–DOF

The proposal to slap an excise tax on sugary drinks has gained support from government agencies such as the Department of Health and the National Economic and Development Authority as it will not only generate additional revenues but also make Filipinos healthier, the Department of Finance said yesterday.

For her part, Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, who introduced the measure in the Lower House that was folded into the DOF’s first comprehensive tax reform package, was quoted as saying that “contrary to the misperception that [her] proposal will hurt poor families the most, [it] will actually protect them from the threat of serious ailments such as diabetes and non-communicable diseases related to the excessive intake of sugar, including chronic disease, diet-related cancers and chronic heart and cardiovascular diseases.”

“These diseases pose a serious threat to public health and should be instantly addressed by my proposed measure,” Suansing said.

Suansing’s House Bill No. 292, which aims to slap a P10-a-liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages using local sugar, was incorporated into HB 5636 or the Duterte administration’s proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (Train), which the Lower House approved before Congress went adjourned in May.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the proposed measure “should be viewed mainly as a health measure that is meant to discourage the consumption of high-sugar beverages, while encouraging industry players to develop healthier product alternatives.”

While the DOF initially wanted to include the tax on sugary drinks in another tax package, Chua said the DOF “[does] not object that this is being advanced in the Congress by the Department of Health and all the stakeholders that have looked into this measure as an important way of curbing the growing problem of diabetes and obesity.”